Sunday, December 25, 2016

Courtesy of Darrin
Nelson. See his blog at http://ndarrin97.blogspot.com/

Construction work on the Waterville Railway started in 1909
just to the east of Waterville. Local residents wanted rail service to their
town and organized their own railroad after realizing that the Great Northern
would get no closer than Douglas, about 5 miles away.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Monte Holm operated a successful junk yard for many years, which fit in with his long time job of scrapping logging railroads and such throughout the Pacific Northwest. The story goes that he tried to get the Milwaukee Road to build a spur into his junk yard if he would ship 50 cars of scrap the second year of operation. He had to pay for the spur construction himself after being denied by the railroad to build it with their money.

Saturday, December 17, 2016

The 557 arrived in Moses Lake in 1965 after being sold to an Everett, WA area junk yard. The rear headlight on the tender was encased to keep it from being removed between Everett and Moses Lake. Monte and two of his friends rode the engine from Warden to Moses Lake.

Thursday, December 15, 2016

This unique 1939 view is courtesy of one of the holes drilled into the west hillside for the discharge pipes used to carry water to what will become Banks Lake. This view shows the back or upstream side of the dam. Note the Northern Pacific boxcars on the construction trestle traveling across what will become the face of the dam. At the far end of the dam note the notch in the hillside, that will match the profile of the completed dam.

Tuesday, December 13, 2016

Most trains bound for Grand Coulee were just like this one on April 6, 1949; boxcars of bulk cement. There were different sources of cement for use in construction, to help meet the incredible demand. These particular cars more than likely were handed off by the Great Northern to the Northern Pacific at Adrian, Washington, for delivery to the Construction railroad at Odair.

Saturday, December 10, 2016

The Ryan Construction Company needed a locomotive to help construction activities after winning the bid to build the line. They found this little Heisler geared steam locomotive from a lumber outfit at Marcus, Washington. Here is it, pictured near the yard at Electric City, on very freshly laid track. Note that there is no form of ballast between the ties, having been laid directly on the coulee floor.

Dennis Thompson sent along the following information about this locomotive:

Thursday, December 8, 2016

Penstocks were built at the fabrication plant in Electric City, being far too large to ship by rail. Here is one of the 18 foot sections getting ready to depart for the dam. Locomotive 830 was built new for Consolidated Builders, Inc., in February 1939. This view shows the north wall of the Grand Coulee in the background.

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

This 18 foot penstock section is being lowered downgrade to the dam from the fabrication plant at Electric City. Note this type of locomotive, a Shay, which featured reduction gearing, is particularly suited to steep grades, slow operations, and heavy loads. The round object on the top of the penstock segment is a manhole cover. These access points are still used inside the galleries of the dam. What will become the upriver side of the dam is seen in the background.

Sunday, December 4, 2016

Part of the way to keep costs low when building the railroad grade to Grand Coulee Dam was the use of mules for heavy grade leveling. Understand that when the contractor, Ryan Construction Company submitted a bid, they had in mind to do the work to the minimum standard at the lowest cost with the most profit to the company. Mules would fit this profile just fine.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

In late 2011, the Bureau of Reclamation drastically lowered Banks Lake, the equalizing reservoir between Grand Coulee and Coulee City. It was along this stretch that the Construction railroad had been built. This time of low water allowed many sections of the old grade to be visible for the first time in years. In this photo, looking approximately north with Steamboat Rock to the immediate left, there was a grade crossing with two remaining railroad ties; 60 years after the rails were pulled up. Normally there would be about 20 feet of water over the grade here.

Thursday, December 1, 2016

In this view of the west side mix plant, note how the railroad grade sweeps around from the hillside in the background and connects with the construction trestle across the work site. Careful viewing will show flatcars laden with cement hoppers pulled by small locomotives near the Whirley cranes on top of the trestles.